College entrance exams now require ID
District 196 administrators say high schools are prepared for new rules
High school seniors will soon need more than pencils and calculators when taking the ACT or SAT test. Students will now need to present a photo ID to register and take the college entrance exams.
“This is a sign of the times,” said Sue Luse, an Eagan-based education consultant. “IDs are needed more and more and this should stop instances of cheating with a surrogate.”
The new rules — adopted earlier this month — follows a series of cheating scandals including an incident in Long Island, New York, in December where a number of students paid impersonators as much as $3,000 to take the SATs for them in the hopes of getting higher scores.
As a result, students are required to submit current and recognizable photos when they register for the ACT or SAT. The photos will appear on the applicant’s admission tickets used when they take the test.
On the day of the test, the student must present a valid photo ID to be matched with the submitted photo. Approved forms of ID include a driver’s license, passport or student identification card.
Students who don’t have such IDs can present notarized letters with photos from their high schools.
In addition to the ID requirement, standby or walk-in testing will be eliminated by SAT. Those who miss the registration deadline, can be placed on a waiting list.
ACT will provide standby testing, but only if students register their intent to test and upload or send a photo in advance. The ACT will also add photos to the score reports it sends high schools, but will not include them in the scores to colleges.
Students who are home-schooled will have a slightly different set of rules.
Administrators in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District have already started to share the changes with district high school seniors.
“The changes shouldn’t present too much of a challenge since our students all have school IDs,” said Polly Reikowski, principal of Eagan High School. “I’m surprised it wasn’t required sooner.”
